U.S. producer prices jump 0.6% in April

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - U.S. wholesale prices climbed a seasonally adjusted 0.6% in April, marking the second straight big gain in a government index that underwent a major overhaul at the start of the year. Excluding the volatile categories of food, energy and trade, core wholesale prices rose a smaller 0.3% last month, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted a 0.2% increase in the PPI after a revised 0.5% gain in March. The price of goods jumped 0.6% in April as the wholesale cost of food and gasoline rose. The price of services also increased 0.6%. Personal consumption, a new index designed to foreshadow changes in the consumer price index, surged 0.7% in April. Over the past year overall producer prices have risen an unadjusted 2.1%, up from 1.4% in March and just 0.9% in February. The unusually sharp increase in such a short period raises questions about the usefulness of the fresh-look PPI index, at least in the short term. The new PPI has been quite volatile in 2014.

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